Anyone attending Ambria College for the RN program?

workingtowardrn · Apr 4, 2012

I agree with nurse428years, Ambria does not tell you about the extra charges so called "student services" of $600.00 per semester and the fact that you can not sell back your books. The staff belittles the students and the den backs up to staff and clams there was a misunderstanding. I personally learned this first hand and other students can tell you the same, there passing rate is high only because of the number of students they had "not much". keep looking into other schools, and best of luck.

catjones · Apr 26, 2012

I think you are right nurse428years. I followed your advise and went to their school on a typical class day. me and my friends were sold out to attend their RN program this summer after attending a very convincing information session. Anyway we went their and mingled and talked to students. they had nothing but horrible things to say!!! their experience seems to be so terrible in this school. Broken promises, being lied to, they just wanna get done with it and get the hell out of there. We wer told the only way to survive in this school is hire a secretary coz everything is homework, bite your tongue and be willing to lose your self respect. The RN student wer promised a test out ATI for peds and OB but school has changed it to make students impossible to pass it.they all believe that they are being set to fail this test. some wont even bother to take it. I was very sold with this school because of this oppurtunity to test out.. most of us are.... but if this is true we wont even bother to enroll. u mentioned you would get back to us about it. if anyone did pass the test or did they really sabotage their own student? did anyone pass the test at all? how many took? how many pass? pls let us know here!! thank you

lpntoRN2b · May 27, 2012

I totally agree with nurse428years. I am at this school as an RN student and I can't even believe the way things work here. We were promised financial aid before we started...never happened. We were told we would be able to test out of OB and PEDS and the teacher who is "in charge" of the testing out has openly said on numerous occasions that no one will pass and she will make sure of that because she doesn't feel we should be allowed to test out. Some of the teachers are very hard and have a lot to offer in terms of education, some are so ridiculously unprepared (clinical instructors especially) that it is unreal. I personally am stuck because I have already paid 2 semesters worth of tuition and don't want to lose my money but wow, I cannot believe the way we have been deceived. I really liked Ambria when I started and thought the staff(and the owner) seemed like good people. What I have experienced thus far has not reflected that. It's very disappointing.

mom102428 · Jul 7, 2012

Think twice before giving this school any of your money. Don't get me wrong, you'll get a good education. But be prepared for the run around at every turn. The instructors are very good, that is the only reason I haven't transferred elsewhere. Their administration is a disorganized mess, especially registration. They don't open registration until 2 weeks before classes start, which is rediculous. They nickel and dime you for EVERYTHING!

And you can guarantee that "rachelle0117" is someone from Ambria's administration. No student is going to boast about a schools high NCLEX pass rate, and why would anyone add the comment "It has NO FOOD (no pop bottles) in the classroom and NO SMOKING policies that students continue to violate which give the school no choice but to fine those individuals who can not follow rules." Most students are annoyed that administration has nothing beter to do than to the security cameras in the classrooms and come into class and hsnd out fines to students that have a cup of coffee on their desk.

And the comment " I wonder how much control they have over their clinical sites schedules." They always use the clinical sites as their excuse for waiting until the last minute to offer registration. Funny how all of the other nursing schools in the area don't have the same problem with getting schedules for clinical site.

And lastly, the current semester OB students have NO clinical site. That's right, they will not see real life patients for OB because they have no clinical site available. Rumor has it that they lost their contract with one of the facilities that offers OB clinical. For the amount of tuition that we pay, that is unacceptable. How are you supposed to get a quality, well-rounded education when you are doing OB clinical on plastic dummies????

LPNstudent1234 · Jul 8, 2012

I would rather get run over by a freight train then to ever go back to this horrible school. I have never felt so out of control of my educational experience. Ambria is a huge money scam in my opinion. Any POSITIVE post on all nurses.com is probably from one of the total of 5 employees that run this shanty operation. It is truly a shame that everyday people are forced to deal with an "administration". Administration is a pathetic hyped up word for a mere 5 person operation, well maybe 6 if you count the girl that sells books. I like how Ambria has all the "accounting errors". I wonder if they even hired a real accountant. I never doubted the quality of some of the instructors. After losing a couple top notch instructors to Chamberlain, I bet that they post a Craigslist ad bidding to the lowest bidder. If you want to go to a school that clinical instructors DID NOT show up to your Role Transition, then go right ahead. I felt pretty dumb driving at 515am to go to Roseland Community Hospital. I just wish that clinical sites were at higher quality institutions such as Northwestern, Loyola, Advocate. Maybe I just like driving through one of the highest crime rate areas of the city of Chicago to go to my clinicals. Maybe it was the fact that Ambria just is plain horrible. What do I know? Its pretty sad that I never realized how important accreditation really is. What does NCA-CASI really mean? I was personally told by several college advisors that since good ol' Ambria is not HLC accredited, that I was not eligible for their LPN-RN bridge programs. Wen a school not accredited by NLN or HLC, I thnk that the contact hours or something does not match up to NLN or HLC standards. This is just my opinion but like the RN sometimes say: "Your just an LPN"

LAbaby · Aug 14, 2012

I just graduated from nlnac school as a RN and passed the board! Don't waste your time and money at

these "for-profit" schools...

Once you graduate no one will hire you because the school is only state accredited not Nursing!

Look for a school that is either NLNAC or AACN, especially if you plan to transfer and get a BSN, most hospitals

are Magnet status.

My advice to you is just keep on applying at your local city college. The market is over saturated with RN and everyone now wants a BSN.

aflack41 · Aug 21, 2012

To lababy, what do you mean no one will hire you? All of my fellow students have jobs and I just got hired. When you say it's only state certified and not nursing, what are you saying? I'm on the registry as a nurse. Just wondering what you meant.

patience628 · Sep 1, 2012

When I read the previous postings, I get an angry and eerie sense of de-ja-vue. Ambria stole almost a year of my life and about ten thousand dollars. What did I get for it? Well, a bunch of racist African American instructors and administrators (namely, the dean) had a punching bag for awhile, got the last laugh, patted each other on the back, and walked away with my time and money. This school has to be stopped- its mere existence is an insult to the Illinois State Board of Nursing. Shame on them, and shame on Ambria. That school makes me fear ever being a patient in a hospital.

sibko74 · Sep 19, 2012

Well if you go to Ambria make sure to have at least 30k. I am in RN bridge now and regret every minute of my time in this school ( started as full time will graduate as part-time). No more test out form the classes, you have to repeat the same stuff over and over again. The first RN class will be graduating with ONLY 9 STUDENTS.!!!!!!!!!! Why? Well they could not afford unpredictable expenses..... Now we don't get power pint printout even after paying 600$ each semester for the fees. They increased credit hours for Med-Surge 1 and it is now 500$ more.... John is very good businessman, but not an owner of LEARNING INSTITUTION. I know a lot of people can not enter in community college and that is the reason why I am here, but they should treat us as students and equal to them BECAUSE WE PAY THEIR BILLS. People at the registration (merry cram or cr.a.p) are so unprofessional and very rude. I am in med-surge 2 now and hope to finish it soon! If you are absolutely can't go to LPN or RN program anywhere else please consider other private schools. PASSING NCLEX IS UP TO YOU ---- IN ANY SCHOOL!!! Look up Northbrook College of Health Care, J'Renee, Omega Healthcare Technical School, PC Center Training Institute. Hope it helps. Please ask me any questions. Thanks.

Songbird8080 · Jan 23, 2014

would you be able to contact me patience? I think we had a similar experience with Ambria. You can read my google review. Im tia Tom on google. my email is [email protected].

lakeside89 · Oct 24, 2014

I am a current student at Ambria, and I am almost done with my LPN. Some people hate it, some people really enjoy it. I am one that really enjoys it. If you study hard, and take it seriously... you will succeed. The professors are wonderful and most of them will bend over backwards for you, regarding extra time meeting with you, and answering your questions. They all have so much experience in the nursing field, and have a lot of knowledge to give. I think the people that have a problem with the school expect to be handed good grades because... yes, it is very pricey. Also, people may not like it because a lot of the times Clinical sites change, extra work is given that was not included in the syllabus, and some things may be unorganized. But I believe, any school you go to is going to have this kind of problem. I have personaly learned a lot, and retained what I have learned to apply it within my nursing career. I am looking forward to going straight back into the RN program.

seaviolet · Nov 10, 2014

I just graduated from the LPN program last August and passed my boards a month later. I truly believe that Ambria prepared me for the NCLEX. Their passing standards for every class are very high. As a result, I passed the boards after 85 questions within an hour. Of course, the school isn't perfect. We didn't get to do our clinicals at some fancy hospital. We had to do our rotation at Roseland Hospital where resources was very hard to come by but we got through it. We learned to preserve the resources we did have and really learned to work as a team. But the most important part is, we learned how to advocate for our less fortunate patients. Isn't that what nursing is mostly about? So, I think it's really up to the person to make the best of the situation. In addition, I never had a problem with financial aid and scheduling. The staff always tried to help out the best they could. The only downside really is the extra 600 dollar fee they charge for each class. Overall, I have no regrets going to this school, only thankful for the wonderful instructors I have had. ( Except one from Fundamentals) As far as going back for my RN, I would love to but they don't have the AACN accreditation yet.